Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 42
मांसाद उवाच । मातृवत्परदारान्यः परद्रव्याणि लोष्टवत् । यः पश्यत्यात्मवज्जंतून्न प्रेतो जायते नरः
māṃsāda uvāca | mātṛvatparadārānyaḥ paradravyāṇi loṣṭavat | yaḥ paśyatyātmavajjaṃtūnna preto jāyate naraḥ
মাংসাদ বললেন: ‘যে পরস্ত্রীকে মাতৃসম, পরধনকে মাটির ঢেলার মতো, আর সকল জীবকে আত্মসম জ্ঞান করে—সে মানুষ প্রেত হয় না।’
Māṃsāda
Listener: The King
Scene: Symbolic triptych: a man respectfully averting gaze from another’s wife (seen as mother), rejecting a pile of coins as mere earth, and embracing/seeing all beings with equal compassion (animals, humans, ascetics).
FAQs
Purity in relationships, non-covetousness, and universal empathy (ātma-vat sarva-bhūteṣu) are presented as protections against a degraded after-death state.
No specific tirtha is named; the verse supplies moral qualifications aligned with tīrtha-oriented dharma.
No ritual is specified; it prescribes inner and social discipline: chastity, non-stealing, and compassion.
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